1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automated teller machine (ATM) of a financial institution and, more particularly, to a financial system or the like for providing financial services by using a common ATM.
2. Related Art
For a retail transaction (petty financial transaction) in a financial institution, a cash dispenser (CD) and/or an automated teller machine (ATM) have been used over the years to automate a withdrawal and/or a deposit of cash. In this specification, these machines are collectively called an “ATM” or “automated teller machine”. In a transaction using an ATM, such as the one that uses an ATM at a particular bank to withdraw a deposit from an account at another bank, it is normally necessary to pay a predetermined service charge, which results in insufficient service to the customer. Thus, there has been proposed a common ATM scheme, which makes a service charge among the involved financial institutions free if an ATM at a particular bank is used.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are pictorial representations for explaining a concept of the conventional common ATM scheme. FIG. 1A shows a normal case, whereas FIG. 1B shows a specific network case. In the normal case shown in FIG. 1A, Bank A's ATM 201 and Bank B's ATM 203 are connected to Bank A's center 202 and Bank B's center 204, respectively. An ATM of each bank is managed at a center of each bank. Bank A's center 202 and Bank B's center 204 are connected by a relay center 205, which may comprise a system(s) (e.g., “BANCS”) for interconnecting large city-based commercial banks, a system(s) (e.g., “ACS”) for interconnecting provincial banks, or a system(s) (e.g., “MICS”) for interconnecting the former systems. In these cases, transactions with another bank may be limited to “withdrawal” and “balance inquiry” alone. If, in such a system, Bank A and Bank B open doors to each other, both banks may reciprocally waive a service charge.
On the other hand, the specific network case shown in FIG. 1B is exploited by a group of closely related banks, for example, a group located in a limited regional area. In this case, Bank A's ATM 211, Bank B's ATM 213 and Bank C's ATM 215 are connected to Bank A's center 212, Bank B's center 214 and Bank C's center 216, respectively. Similarly to FIG. 1A, an ATM of each bank is managed at a center of each bank. In the specific network case shown in FIG. 1B, there is an exemplary model arranged so that centers of respective banks mutually engage in development of a system, which covers not only “withdrawals” and “balance inquiries” but also “deposits.”
As noted above, according to the scheme shown in FIG. 1A, possible transactions with another bank are limited to “withdrawal” and “balance inquiry”, and no other transactions are allowed. Also, even in an exemplary situation where a customer of Bank B uses Bank A's ATM 201, Bank A's ATM 201 is operated to display a menu commonly used for banks other than Bank A. Since such a menu is developed by Bank A, it may happen that the customer of Bank B has difficulty completing his/her transaction at Bank A's ATM 201 in a fully understandable manner.
Also, in the specific network case shown in FIG. 1B, respective banks are mutually required to engage in system development. Thus, this specific network is also, in substance, limited in services. Further, since cash money is loaded into each ATM by its bank, it is necessary to make settlements among the banks involved. For example, if the number of banks increases to “n”, such settlements need to cover a number of combinations, being equal to (n*(n−1)/2), which causes system development at a center of each bank to be very complicated. More particularly, if the specific network shown in FIG. 1B is to be organized by eight individual banks, it is necessary to carry out system development covering 28 different combinations, i.e., 8*7/2=28 according to the above formula. Because of such complicated system development, it is practically impossible to get a number of banks involved with system development. Thus, it has been impractical to expand this system to the extent that it encompasses a wide range of banks. Moreover, with respect to a menu displayed on a screen of an ATM at a particular bank, a customer of another bank is required to conduct his/her transaction using the particular bank's menu, which may not necessarily lead to his/her satisfactory transaction.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for a system that reduces system development efforts required of financial institutions to provide a financial transaction system that is adapted for using one or more common ATMs. In addition, there is a need for a system to simplify transaction settlement processing based on ATMs of each financial institution. It would also be advantageous if a customer, who has an account at another financial institution, could conduct his/her transaction at an ATM that is managed by a particular financial institution using a menu screen that is created by another financial institution. It would be even further advantageous if transactions with a common ATM, which is managed by a particular financial institution, may be expanded on a building block basis through an individual system development by another financial institution.